Month: August 2018

Picnic for Peace for World Peace Day is a volunteer run event by community members for the community with a common goal of peace, hope and unity. The 2018 Picnic for Peace – the 4th annual World Peace gathering at the Victoria Park Lake, Shepparton – will take place on Sunday 9 September in Shepparton from 11am – 3pm.

The European Jewish Congress (EJC), together with the International Jewish Committee for Interreligious Consultations (IJCIC) and the Holy See’s Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews organised a seminar titled “Youth and Religious Identity: Jews and Catholics in Conversation”, which took place between July 1-5 2018 in Vilnius, Lithuania.

The Catholic-Jewish emerging leadership Conference brought together 20 young activists from all over the world. The seminar set out to build cross-communal bridges between Jews and Catholics, to address current challenges facing both communities and to identify new areas of cooperation.

Celtic spirituality stems from the pagan Celts, a collection of tribes in Ireland that were converted to Christianity by St. Patrick in the fifth century A.D. The tribes had focused on the seasonal rhythms and connecting with nature. Their rituals influenced Christian practices in Ireland, Wales and Scotland. Part of the appeal today lies in the simple Celtic discipline of listening for the divine in one’s environment.
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New Jersey’s first Sikh attorney general, Gurbir Singh Grewal, was a target of disparaging remarks recently. Two radio hosts commented on Grewal’s Sikh identity and repeatedly referred to him as “turban man.” When called out on the offensiveness of their comments, one of them stated, “Listen, and if that offends you, then don’t wear the turban and maybe I’ll remember your name.”
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If someone tells you that Judaism is X or Y, you should never believe them. Judaism is such a complex civilisation: it is made up of religion and culture, language and land, and a particular kind of people-hood. In every context different aspects of Judaism have been lived out in countless different ways. Judaism is not only complex, but also filled with contradictory opinions, so that any single view will – by definition – fail to offer a full sense of all the possibilities. (This, I admit, is what I most love about being Jewish!)

The Dungala Kaiela Oration is an annual event on Yorta Yorta country co-hosted by the Kaiela Institute and the University of Melbourne. The Oration was conducted at the Rumbalara Football-Netball Club on the 24th of August 2018. The oration gives prominent leaders and thinkers a platform to discuss contemporary issues relevant to the Goulburn Murray region. The 2018 oration, At home on country, at home in the world, was delivered by Māori lawyer and social justice advocate Dr Moana Jackson.
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Every Buddha image we see reflects such calm, amused acceptance that it is not easy to appreciate just how radical a figure Siddhartha Gotama Buddha really was. Yet when we look closely at the ways he acted in the world he inhabited, and at the teachings he left behind for us all to follow, I think it is fair to say the Buddha was one of the more radical humans ever to have walked the earth.

When his grandfather died in the emergency department of a Hobart hospital, Andreas was by his side. “I was really frightened.” It was Andreas’s first experience of being with a dying person and it made him anxious.

“As his breathing slowed down and he was taking less and less breaths, I was worried about how I was going to feel when he didn’t take any more,” he says. “And then he had one final really deep inhale and exhale, and it was fine. “I wasn’t panicked at all. I thought ‘Oh, it’s not weird’.

This course examines the Sikh scripture from a doctrinal and historical perspective by providing an overview of Sikh teachings as well as the historical context within which the #scripture evolved and became canonised. It also examines the musical and aesthetic dimensions of the Sikh scripture, as well as ways in which the voluminous text has provided Sikhs with a social, ethical, spiritual and political message to help them respond to and shape the world around them.

#YouCanTalk is a joint national suicide prevention campaign aimed at giving people the confidence to respond to friends and family when they need help and guide them to the right support services.

The campaign is a collaborative effort by beyondblue, Black Dog Institute, Everymind, headspace, Lifeline, ReachOut and R U OK?, which aims to empower and increase confidence when it comes to talking about suicide.

Welcome to Country

Shepparton Interfaith Network acknowledges the traditional owners of country throughout Australia and their continuing connection to land and community. We pay our respect to them and their cultures, and to the elders both past and present.